Borough Elementary School

500 Speedwell Avenue

School District

Morris Plains
Grade

3-8
Teacher/Student Ratio

1:10
Type

public

School Map for Morris Plains School District

GreatSchools Rating

The school rating calculation is based on four ratings: the Student Progress Rating or Academic Progress Rating, College Readiness Rating, Equity Rating, and Test Score Rating each designed to show different facets of school success. Learn more about GreatSchools Ratings

Reviews

Submitted by other on July 27, 2023

I am an alum of Borough School, now in college. I will say, Borough is a very small school in a very small town. The education is standard and has very similar curriculum compared to schools like Frelinghuysen middle school. Because of the small environment, things such as bullying or racism can come off as taboo and make it hard to talk about. It’s a tight knit community. However, the staff (teachers) are outstanding. The small school has a benefit of the teachers being able to spend more time with the students, whether that be providing support for academics or other reasons. There are many extra curriculars, including but not limited to sports. 3-8 can cause a weird dynamic since sometimes 13 year olds are walking with 8 year olds. But overall, it’s a good school. If you live in Morris Plains, Borough will prepare your child for high school academically.
Submitted by parent on March 02, 2022

This school is fantastic! I would absolutly recomend this school because of the magnificent staff and respectful students!
Submitted by other on January 03, 2022

If I could rate in the negatives I would. The bullying that happened at this school was atrocious. I went 3-8th grade and I had never been at such a low in life. If bullying was brought to the guidance counselors attention he would laugh about your issues with the bully’s. This school didn’t help prepare me for the real world emotionally,mentally, or academically. There is only one language offered and the students are babied. Almost every kid I have spoken to who went through that hellish experience that is called Morris plains borough school says the same as me. There was no administrative support and any complains by students or parents were brushed off and you were given an eye roll. Many really great individual teachers that I am grateful for. Just about every thing else in that school destroyed me as a person and ripped away my sense of self. The feeling of being 11 and suicidal because of the ignored bullying and lack of confidence raising will forever be burned into my head.
Submitted by other on December 13, 2021

This school is ok as well as the teachers but the principal is horrible and rude
Submitted by other on March 12, 2017

Both my kids study there and the level of integration they experienced is unbelievable. Teachers and the principal are very dedicated and knowledgeable.
Submitted by other on January 01, 2017

As a Borough School graduate I can go as far to say that this is one of the best grammar school educations one can receive. In high school I went on to take AP classes in all subjects and was prepared excellently for all of my high school studies. In previous comments there was criticism of the science department, but the preparation for physics, chemistry, and biology that is covered at Borough is exceptional. Moreover, Borough is a small school; Morris Plains is a small town. There is no getting around it. There is no way to prepare the students for the social aspects of Morristown High School, and the 6 grades in one school allows for a real tight-knit community. The teachers at Borough School are the best there is. Borough in my opinion is a better education than most private schools in North Jersey.
Submitted by parent on May 27, 2014

I agree with the poster from back in August 2012 who was a student at Borough. As a parent, I see the same issues with science and other subjects in the 7th and 8th grades. I'm disappointed by the few bad seeds, but these are the most important years to prepare the students for high school. When you try to voice concern, you can almost hear the eye rolling that you get. If the school board really wants to improve the school, they should send out end of the year evaluations for the parents and the students to complete. Most of the teachers and other staff would get high marks, but the lack of motivation and boring teaching methods would surely come to light. I wish they had a yearly review like other occupations and they had to actually care about their jobs, or losing them! As a town on the whole, parent involvement is tremendous and I don't think it can get any better than that!
Submitted by parent on January 31, 2013

The Borough School has made some significant strides forward within the last few years; largely due to the efforts of a newer administration and civic contributions. The school board did a great job with managing the budgets over the past several very difficult years. Combined with the efforts of the parents in the community, some of the developments include: white board technology in the classrooms, upgraded theatre, improved recreational facilities, significant landscaping improvements to the grounds. With current small class sizes, the students benefit from higher attention levels of the administration. On its current trajectory, MPBS will aggressively approach top-school status in northern NJ.
Submitted by other on August 10, 2012

I went to this school for 6 years., 3-8, in those years I felt the academics were outstanding in some categories, while failing in others. The uper grade science is vey lacking. However, what I feel really makes this a below average school is that it doesn't offer any languages besides Spanish and the kids are spolied and babied the whole way thorugh. Most of the kids will end up going to Morristown High School, where the kids are so used to one-on-one time with a teacher to help them get good grades that they think they can handle AP and Honors classes, which are much harder than anythiing the kids have ever done at Borough. Mostly because the only "specialized" class is Math where there are two levels, high and low. So all the kids learn the same thing in all the other classes, regardless of what's good for them.